Written by former Senate education staffer and journalist Alexander Russo, This Week in Education covers education news, policymakers, and trends with a distinctly political edge. (For archives prior to January 2007, please click here. For posts after November 2007, please click here.) Comments on this blog are now closed.

By Alexander Russo October 24, 2007 at 2:41 PM

There aren't many reporters covering the race or poverty beat these days, much less the family beat that LynNell Hancock advocated in a HotSeat interview last year. So I was pleasantly surprised to get a call from Jonathan Tilove (pictured), who writes about race for the 26 papers that make up the Newhouse News group. What happens in school is a fascinating and complex topic, to be sure, but if you add race, poverty, and all the rest in there you have a much more complete picture. Writes like Kate Boo, Stephanie Banchero, and others get that, and it makes ...

By Alexander Russo October 24, 2007 at 12:22 PM

On Deadline tells us that "sudents" are giving $2M to presidential candidates so far, assuming most of it comes from parents (Toddlers giving to Obama). Eduwonkette says she's on the KIPP bandwagon, at least when it comes to extended learning (What lessons does KIPP offer for urban education reform?). The folks at TLN give kudos to the LA Times for including classroom voices (LA Times Featuring Teacher Bloggers). The AFTies highlight the news that childcare workers are going to be unionized now, along with paras in NYC (Today, She Has A Union). Does that make UPK more or less costly, ...

By Alexander Russo October 24, 2007 at 9:56 AM

Teachers can get in trouble for pretty much anything these days. This time it's a book by Cormac McCarthy that was deemed a little too graphic for high schoolers: Town in uproar after teacher put on leave over book. Like high school kids haven't been exposed to tales of murder sprees and decomposing bodies before....

By Alexander Russo October 24, 2007 at 9:36 AM

Media watchdog Jim Romenesko reports about what happens when satire seems too real in high school (Principal confiscates papers). He also points to a recent headline saying that 25 percent of South Carolina teachers are sexual predators (Paper apologizes for hed on AP's bad teachers story). Oops! EIA Mike says that the California teachers union has its own problems (Labor Challenge). On a related note, The Hoff says they're going viral on NCLB (CTA Goes Multimedia). USA Today's Richard Whitmire makes the case that preschool is the new NCLB for presidential candidates (Preschool vs. NCLB). I'm not buying it, but ...

By Alexander Russo October 24, 2007 at 9:06 AM

It was great to be back on the Hill yesterday moderating a New Teacher Center event in Dirksen. Some of the faces have changed, but not much else (the abundance of Diet Coke, the abundance of cheap suits, the hidden bathrooms, etc.). Miller Title II guru Alice Cain and I reminisced about being newbies on the Senate side all those years ago when she was with Simon and I was with Feinstein. (Then she doused me with coffee -- a welcome back blessing, I like to think.) I also met some newer folks I knew by name or email -- ...